Cover for decanter or like liquid dispensing container

ABSTRACT

1. A COVER, AS FOR A DECANTER OR THE LIKE LIQUID DISPENSING CONTAINER HAVING A NECK PORTION, COMPRISING: A CAP INCLUDING AN ANNULAR SKIRT HAVING A LOWER PORTION FOR ATTACHMENT OVER THE NECK PORTION OF THE CONTAINER, AN UPPER CLOSURE WALL, AND A POURING SPOUT EXTENDING OUTWARDLY FROM SAID SKIRT AND HAVING UPWARDLY PRESENTED SEAT MEANS; THE CLOSURE WALL HAVING AN OPENING THEREIN LEADING TO THE SPOUT, THE CLOSURE WALL HAVING A DEPRESSED PORTION HAVING A CLOSED BOTTOM AND AN OPEN TOP, A VALVULAR PLATE OF FLEXIBLE MATERIAL MOUNTED ON SAID CAP AND CLOSING THE OPEN TOP OF THE DEPRESSED PORTION, THE PLATE HAVING A VALVING END NORMALLY CLOSING SAID SPOUT OPENING, AND AN OPPOSITE END THEREOF HINGEDLY SUPPORTED ON THE CAP OVER THE DEPRESSED PORTION; SAID VALVULAR PLATE, AT A POINT INTERMEDIATE SAID VALVING END AND SAID OPPOSITE END, HAVING A SECOND POINT OF HINGED SUPPORT ON THE CAP, WHEREBY UPON APPLICATION OF MANUAL PRESSURE TO THE PLATE INTERMEDIATE SAID TWO POINTS OF HINGED SUPPORT, SAID PLATE IS BOWED INWARDLY OF SAID CLOSURE WALL INTO THE DEPRESSED PORTION TO SWING SAID VALVING END OF THE PLATE AWAY FROM SAID SPOUT OPENING FOR POURING PURPOSES.

Dec. 10, 1974 ALPERN Re. 28, 272

COVER FOR DECANTER OR LIKE LIQUID DISPENSING CONTAINER Original FiledOct. 14. 1971 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 M. ALPERN 272 COVER FOR DECANTER 0H LIKELIQUID DISPFNSTNG CONTAINER Dec. 10, 1974 3 Sheets-Shae t 2 OriginalFiled Oct. 14 1971 FIG. 6

36 3a 33 \Z [YT Wm Dec. 10, 1974 COVER FOR LECANTER OR LIKE LIQUIDDISPIFNS'I 3 Sheets-Sheet I? Original Filed Oct. 14. 1971 United StatesPatent Olfice Re. 28,272 Reissued Dec. 10, 1974 28,272 COVER FORDECANTER OR THE LIKE LIQUID DISPENSING CONTAINER Melvin Alpern, 9800McKnight Road, Pittsburgh, Pa. 15237 Original No. 3,739,957, dated June19, 1973, Ser. No.

189,454, Oct. 14, 1971. Application for reissue Feb.

4, 1974, Ser. No. 439,012

Int. Cl. B67d 3/00 US. Cl. 222-556 25 Claims Matter enclosed in heavybrackets appears in the original patent but forms no part of thisreissue specification; matter printed in italics indicates the additionsmade by reissue.

ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Removable cap, having a pouring spoutthereon, fits snugly over straight-necked decanters or like fluiddispensing containers, has integral skirt, extended to serve asunobtrusive handle to be gripped in the hand of user for pouringpurposes without direct contact with neck of container. Skirt hasintegral inner lip forming peripheral recess for yielding reception oftop edge of container neck, thereby to hold cap in place for suchpouring, by operation of closure means normally closing spout opening.Closure means has no springs or other bulky protruding parts, and, it isoperable by finger pressure of the hand used for gripping skirt tosupport container for said pouring purposes.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION While there are numerous prior patents whichshow pouring spout caps for containers, the best known prior art on thesubject fails to disclose the spout cap of the present invention.

Pierrio et al., US. Pat. No. 3,212,686, as a typical example, disclosesa plastic, screw-top closure cap having a pouring spout and a largeintegral handle on the same, and a hinged closure strip for the pouringspout. The closure strip, however, is opened by having a longprotruding, integral lever for manipulation thereof, and also requiresprovision of an elongated, integral attaching lug which is snapped intospaced edges on the cap portions, whereby in use of the device theclosure strip is subject to breakage at the pivot point of the same.

The handle free decanter caps of the present invention, on the on theother hand, have top portions or covers which are substantially free ofprotrusions, other than small buttons on cover plates which are mainlyindications of where to press down behind an axis of movement to liftthe front part from a spout closing position. In a preferred embodimentplastic closure plates are pivoted to caps on spaced axes ofi movement,one axis being at the rear of the closure plate and the other axis beingat an intermediate position behind the free front part that closes thepouring spout with the button on a resilient portion between the axesindicating where to press down on the [resilient plastic] closureplates, for bending the same, yieldingly to elevate free ends of theplates normally closing the mouths of the pouring spouts. In otherwords, there are no protruding parts on the container cap of the presentinvention such as handles, levers, springactuated mechanisms and/orhousings for the same, and there are no metal or other sliding closureparts to be gummcd up by the dispensed liquids.

SUMMARY OF INVENTION The present invention relates to an improved, easyto operate pouring spout cap, as for containers such as decanters havingelongated tubular necks, and which are relatively inexpensive to produceby known plastic molding methods. The caps may be of molded plastic [tohave] having an elongated tubular skirt [and] or side wall having spacedlower and upper ends including a lower portion extending downwardly froman intermediate level to said lower end adapted to fit over a neck ofsuch container and an upper portion extending upwardly from saidintermediate level to the upper end. The lower portion has means to makefluid tight engagement with such neck, e.g., an annular wall extendinginwardly from an integral with the side wall at said intermediate leveland then downwardly to form an annular groove into which the upper partof the neck can be inserted. The cap includes a transverse wall to closeit against egress of liquid from within a container to which it isattached except through an opening leading to a pouring spout thatpreferably diverges upwardly and outwardly from about said intermediatelevel and which is sometimes referred to as an upwardly presentedclosure wall provided [wijh] with an opening therein for connecting witha pouring spout protruding radially of the skirt. The skirt isconstructed and proportioned for relatively tight application, i.e.,there is at most an annular air space of short radial length between theneck and the side wall, over a substantial extent of the neck of thecontainer until the upper end of the neck is yieldingly received in [an]said annular groove defined by an integral lip extending inwardly of theskirt, to form a fluid seal therewith]. The skirt is long enough to begrasped between the thumb and at least one finger of one hand of aperson desiring to pour liquid from a container on which the cap isremovably afiixed, which is referred to sometimes as "grasping length",so that the handle free tubular wall itself serves as a protectivehandle for the container, without having protuberances of the characterdescribed.

A closure device for the opening in the pouring spout is the frontportion if a cover mounted on the upper portion of the cap adjacent tothe upper end for movement around an intermediate axis behind thepouring spout. The jlront portion is adapted for swinging movement froma first or lowered position closing the spout to a second or raisedposition opening it. At the rear of the intermediate axis is a rearportion of the cover that can be depressed within the side wall to swingthe front portion upwardly from closed to open position. Resilient meansbias or yieldingly urge the front portion to the lowered or closedposition. A preferred embodiment of the closure device may include anelongated closure or valvular plate of thin, semi-hard, but somewhatflexible plastic material of well known types, seated in a recess formedor molded in the top wall. The closure plate may have aligned pins orsteam at the rear end of the same opposite from the spout, which havebeen snapped into transversely undercut aligned pivot recesses in thetop wall at opposite sides of a plate, and within which recesses theplate is complementally received to pivot as necessary. Intermediate thespout opening and said aligned pivot recesses, the top wall similarlymay have a pair of transversely elongated notches provided therein todefine laterally undercut, transversely extending guide edges, underwhich another pair of laterally aligned, integral stems are snapped tohold the closure plate locked flatwise in the plane of the top wall. Thetop wall also may have formed therein a shallow chamber which isnormally closed by the elongated strip overlying the same.

By yieldingly despressing the flexible strip into said shallow chamber,to an extent determined by the movement of the pivot pins in theaforesaid elongated notches, the forward free end of the strip is[flexed] tilted upwardly. This operation is accomplished by pressing theindex finger of one hand against the strip between the rear andintermediate pivot pins while grasping the cap sleeve in the same hand,as for pouring fluid from the spout of the decanter.

A general object of the invention is to provide an improved cap, as forfluid containers of the character described, utilizing inexpensiveparts, and which includes novel manually operable valving means for apouring spout on said cap which does not require provision of bulkymechanism and/or a protruding handle.

Other objects of the invention will be manifest from the following briefdescription and the accompanying drawings:

Of the accompanying drawings:

FIG. 1 is a side elevation illustrating one form of improved pouringspout cap of the invention, applied over the tubular neck of a glass orlike fiuid container or decanter.

FIG. 2 is a top plan view of the cap shown in FIG. 1, on the same scale,to illustrate a manually operable valvular plate or cover for a pouringspout on the cap.

FIG. 3 is a vertical cross-section through the cap, taken substantiallyon the line 3-3 of FIG. [1,] 2, and on the same scale.

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary vertical cross-section, taken substantially onthe line 44 of FIG. 2, on a larger scale, to illustrate a relatively[fixed, but] movable and selectively releasable, hinge pin connectionbetween the valvular plate and the cap.

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary top plan view corresponding in part of FIG. 2,but on a larger scale.

FIG. 6 is a vertical cross-section taken on the line 6-6 of FIG. 5, andon the same scale, to illustrate the manner of releasably mounting thevalvular plate for manual operation thereof to open and close thepouring spout.

FIG. 7 is a fragmentary cross-section, corresponding t the lowerright-hand portion of FIG. 3, but on a larger scale, illustratingprovision of an internal screw thread means on the cap skirt forthreaded connection of the cap on the neck of a decanter havingcorresponding thread means.

FIG. 8 is a top plan view, corresponding to FIG. 5, on the same scale,and illustrating a modified form of spout valving means for thecontainer cap.

FIG. 9 is a side elevation, partly broken away and in section, in thearea as viewed along the line 9-9 of FIG. 8, and also on the same scaleas FIG. 8.

Referring to FIGS. 1 to 6, of the drawings, there is illustrated acup-shaped dispensing cap 15 for removably fitting over a tubular neck16a of a glass or like decanter 16. The cap 15 may comprise a moldedaxially elongated tubular skirt or side wall 17, of hard or semihardplastic material, having an upper end partially closed by an integraltop closure wall 18, and an integrally upwardly and outwardly divergingpouring spout 19 which protrudes radially of the skirt 17 to have anupper edge in a plane generally paralled with but slightly lower thanthe upper side of the closure wall 18, and serving as a valving seat 20.The skirt 17 is of sufficient axial length from said upper end to anopen lower end to be gripped as between the thumb and at least onefinger, in one hand, and thereby serve as an insulating handle for thedecanter. In other words, the side wall 17 is of grasping length andhandle free because no protruding handle is necessary for use of thedispensig cap to pour hot liquid from a container filled therewith towhich the cap has been removably ayffixed. The means for removablyaffixing the cap to the straight neck of 16a of a container 16 may haveany suitable structure but in a preferred embodiment of the invention an[An] annular lip 22 may be integrally molded on the inner surface of theskirt at an intermediate level between said upper and lower ends of theside wall 17. As seen best in FIGS. 1, 3 and 7 the lip 22 includesinwardly and downwardly extending portions adjacent closure wall 18] todefine an annular groove 23 between the lip and said inner wall surface,for tight fluidsealing reception of the upper edge of the lit ill)

decanter neck in the groove, against the yielding resiliency of the lip.The space between the lip 22 and closure wall 18 serves as a relativelyunobstructed chamber, opening or passageway in the upper portion of thecap communicating directly with the pouring spout aperture 26. Thepouring spout starts at a point near said intermediate level, e.g., justabove the lip 22 as seen in FIG. 3, and diverges radially outwardly fromand upwardly along the side wall which terminates at the juncture withthe spout to provide said direct communication through the side wallinto the spout aperture 26.

In general dispensing containers such as decanters include a straightneck which usually is of circular cross section, although other crosssections are possible, if desired. The side wall 17, at least in thelower portion below the lip 22, has substantially the same shape incross section as the neck of the container with which the dispensing capis designed to be used so that the lip 22 can make the desired fluidtight connection with the neck. Preferably the side wall has a uniformexternal cylindrical cross section from its lower end to its upper endexcept for the pouring spout.

The upper end or valving seat 20 of pouring spout 19 is normally closedby a cover mounted on the upper portion 0 the cap 15 adjacent to itsupper end for movement around an intermediate axis behind the pouringspout. The portion of the cover in front of said axis is adapted forswinging or tilting movement around said axis from closed to openposition and vice versa.

Referring now to FIGS. 1, 2, 5 and 6 in general and to FIGS. 5 and 6 inparticular, there is shown a simple and yet very efi'icient andeconomical valvular means 27 for manually opening and closing the spoutaperture 26. For this purpose a [thick, elongated,] plate 28 ofresilient material, such as molded semi-hard, synthetic elastic plastic,is hingedly mounted on two hinge axes at spaced points, an intermediateaxis 29 and a rear axis 30, to be yieldingly supported flatwise andcomplementally fitted within a plate recess 31 in the closure wall, and[to have an internal] and has a front portion or closure extension 32normally engaging said valving seat 20 for closing the spout aperture26.

For [manually] permitting manual opening and closing of the spoutaperture by the valvular plate 23, one said hinged mounting may be[provided to have lost-motion eifect] made movable relative to the otherwhereby upon manual pressure of a finger against a button 33 on theplate 28, intermediate the spaced hinge axes, the [entire] portion ofthe plate between the axes is bowed inwardly yielding to move] movingthe closure extension 32 outwardly of the spout opening 20 for pouringpurposes, as shown in chaindotted lines in FIG. 6. The resilience of theplate 28 biases the cover to closed position.

In the form of the inventon as best shown in FIGS. 5 [6] and [7] 6, thefixed hinge connection is at the right hand or rear end of the plate 28and includes laterally spaced pivot pins 34, 34 which are integral withthe plate 28, and which are yieldingly pressed past undercut spacededges of slots 35, 35 provided in the closure wall 18, at the oppositeedges defining the plate-receiving recess 31. The second hingeconnection at 29 is [provided with lostmotion hinged action,] mademovable relative to the hinge connection at the rear axis 30 by similarpivot pins 36, 36 which are yieldingly pressed past spaced undercut edge37, 37 of transversely elongated slots 38 at opposite sides of theplate. By manually depressing a button [32] 33 on the plate, at a pointintermediate the spaced hinge axes, resultant movement of the movablepins, in direction toward the fixed hinge point pins, causes the closureplate to be bowed downwardly, thereby to elevate the valving end 32 toopen position, as shown in chaindotted lines in FIG. [5.] 6.

The top wall 18 may have a depressed wall portion 18a formed thereon, toprovide a closed recess 18a into which the valvular plate 28 can bebowed without exposure to fluid being poured from the container. Thebottom wall portion 18a may also serve to limit the extent to which theplate 28 can be depressed.

Thus, with the cap 15 affixed on the neck of 16a of the decanter 16, theskirt portion 17 can be grasped in one hand at various points forpouring purposes, because there are no handles or other protruding partsobstructing use of a are finger to press the button 33 for operating thevalvular plate 28.

Referring to FIG. [5,] 7, there is illustrated a modification of theclosure cap 17 shown in FIG. 3, in which an internal thread 17a isprovided for use on containers having necks 16a provided withcomplementally externally threaded portions ]6b. This is a secondembodiment of means for removably afiixing caps to straight necks ofcontainers and it preferably includes an internal lip 22 to providefluid tight sealing as described above for the other embodimentillustrated in FIG. 3.

Referring now to FIGS. 8 and 9, there is illustrated a modified closurecap [37] 17b for attachment to a decanter neck 16a generally as shown inFIGS. 1 to 3 and 7. Like parts, therefore, will be designated by likenumbers unless otherwise noted. In this instance, however, a thinyieldingly flexible valvular [plage] plate [38] 280 having the samegeneral shape and location as the plate 28 shown in FIG. 5, has axiallyaligned pivot pins 39, 39 on an intermediate axis of movement,releasably received in undercut slots 40, 40 in the top wall 18[a] inthe manner of the fixed hinge points 35 in FIG. 5. The rear end of theplate [38] 28a opposite the spout end thereof, however, has an integrallug or flange 42, which curves downwardly and inwardly, and nestlessnugly in a complementally shaped portion 43 of a wall 44 defining acurvate recess 45 in the top wall 18[a] of the closure cup [37.] 17b.

A suitably positioned button 47 on the closure plate 3 28a [38] ismanually yieldingly depressible as before, to bow the closure plateinwardly between the relatively fixed, axially aligned, pivot pins 39and the top of the [lung] lug 42 which acts as a movable yieldinglyflexible pivotal area, which determines the extent of the downwardlybowing movement of the plate and, therefore, the amount of upwardpivotal opening movement of the closure end 32 of the valvular plate, asshown in chaindotted lines in FIG. 9. In other words, the lug 42, whileserving as an anchoring device for holding the valvular plate [38] 28ain its closed, horizontal position as shown also serves as a resilientanchor or hinge means which determines the degree of spout openingmovement of the plate by the amount of bowing movement thereof, as

described above. The combined effect of the resiliency of plate 28a andlug 42 is to bias the front portion 32 into closed position over pouringspout 19. The covers as shown have generally flat upper and lowersurfaces, i.e., the major portions of both surfaces lie in spaced,parallel planes. The upper surface of the covers 28 and 28a ispreferably in the plane of the upper end of the side wall as seen inFIGS. 3, 4, 6 and 9 while the flat under surface of the front portion32, in closed position, is in the plane of the valving seat 20 so as toclose the spout J9 and the predetermined distance between these planesis the same as the thickness of the front portion 32. The covers 28 and28a terminate at the rear within the side wall, i.e.. do not extend orproject beyond the side wall, and when pressure is applied to thebuttons 33 and 47 the rear portion behind the intermediate axis ofmovement is depressed into the space within the side wall. Thedepressing of the rear portion of the cover in this manner lifts thejlront portion to open the pouring spout by reason of the movement ofthe cover around the intermediate axis.

It should be particularly noted that, as compared with the known relatedprior art pouring spout caps for decanters, each of the several forms ofclosure caps of the present invention need only to be composed of twodistinct parts, both of which can be economically produced, by plasticmolding methods, in multiple cavity molds.

The improved closure caps, moveover, can be easily assembled, with aminimum of labor and other costs, because the valvular plates formingone distinct part and the cap body forming the other distinct partcomprising the skirt or side wall and associated elements can be quicklysnapped together, into the above described hinging connections, readyfor immediate attachment to decanters.

Other modifications of the invention may be resorted to withoutdeparting from the spirit thereof or the scope of the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A cover, as for a decanter or like liquid dispensing container havinga neck portion, comprising: a cap including an annular skirt having alower portion for attachment over the neck portion of the container, anupper closure wall, and a pouring spout extending outwardly from saidskirt and having upwardly presented seat means; the closure wall havingan opening therein leading to the spout, the closure wall having adepressed portion having a closed bottom and an open top, a valvularplate of flexible material mounted on said cap and closing the open topof the depressed portion, the plate having a valving end normallyclosing said spout opening, and an opposite end thereof hingedlysupported on the cap over the depressed portion; said valvular plate, ata point intermediate said valving end and said opposite end, having asecond point of hinged support on the cap, whereby upon application ofmanual pressure to the plate intermediate said two points of hingedsupport, said plate is bowed inwardly of said closure wall into thedepressed portion to swing said valving end of the plate away from saidspout Opening for pouring purposes.

2. A [removable] cover as in claim 1, including means adjacent the lowerportion of said skirt cooperating with the neck of the container formaintaining [said resilient lip in] fluid tight contact [against theupper edge] of the neck of the container[.] with said skirt.

3. A cover as defined in claim 1, one said point of hinged support beingrelatively fixed and the other being relatively movable.

4. A cover as defined in claim 2, wherein said [first point of hingedsupport is relatively fixed, and said second point of hinged support isrelatively movable with opening and closing operation of said valvularplate] means includes an internal resilient lip forming a groove withsaid skirt adapted to receive the upper end ojl said neck.

5. A cover as defined in claim 3, wherein said first and second pointsof hinged support include recess means in said closure wall includingundercut retaining edges and pivotal stem means on said valvular platereleasably retained in said recess means by said undercut retainingedges.

6. A cover is defined in claim 1, wherein said [first] second point ofhinged support is relatively fixed, and [second point of] the hingedsupport at said opposite end is relatively movable with opening andclosing operation of said valvular plate.

7. A cover as defined in claim 1, said closure wall ineluding inwardlyspaced stop means engageable by the manually depressed part of saidplate.

8. A cover as defined in claim 1, said valvular plate having thereon anoutward protrusion [at said] intermediate [point] said two points ofhinged support to facilitate application of said manual pressure to openthe pouring spout.

9. A cover as defined in claim 1, wherein said skirt is [cap includes anaxially elongated] tubular [skirt portion,] of [resilient] moldedplastic material [for removable complemental reception thereof over theneck of the container, an] said closure wall is integral [upwardlypresented closure wall, and an] with said skirt and said pouring spoutis integral [pouring spout opening upwardly of said closure wall;] withsaid skirt and opens upwardly; said skirt having a radially inwardlypresented, integral, resilient lip forming an annular groove foryielding fluid-sealing reception of the upper edge of the neck therein;said skirt being of substantial axial extent adapted to be firmlygripped by the fingers of a user of the container for pouring purposeswithout direct contact of the fingers with the neck of the container.

10. A removable cover as in claim [1,] 9, including means adjacent thelower portion of said skirt cooperating with the neck of the containerfor maintaining said resilient lip in tight contact against the upperedge of the neck of the container.

11. A handlefree dispensing cap adapted for use on a decanter or likeliquid dispensing container having a straight neck comprising:

(a) a tubular side wall of grasping length having spaced lower and upperends including:

(1) a lower portion extending downwardly from an intermediate level tosaid lower end adapted to fit over a neck of such container and havingmeans to make fluid tight engagement therewith, and

(2) an upper portion extending upwardly from said intermediate level tosaid upper end having an upwardly opening pouring spout;

(b) a cover mounted on the upper portion of said cap adjacent to saidupper end for movement around an intermediate axis behind said pouringspout and having:

(I) a portion in front of said axis adapted for swinging movement fromone position closing said pouring spout to a second position opening it,and

(2) a portion at the rear of said axis that can be depressed within saidside wall to swing the front portion upwardly from closed position toopen position; and

(c) means resiliently biasing said cover to closed position.

12. A handle free dispensing cap as set forth in Claim II in which saidside wall has the same cross sectional shape as the neck and the lowerportion is threaded internally to engage a corresponding outwardlythreaded neck of such container.

13. A handle free dispensing cap as set forth in Claim 11 in which saidmeans to make fluid tight engagement is a resilient lip which extendsinwardly from the side wall at said intermediate level and thendownwardly forming a groove in which said neck is adapted to be held bysaid lip.

14. A handle free dispensing cap as set forth in Claim 13 in which saidside wall has the same cross sectional shape as the neck of suchcontainer and said pouring spout diverges upwardly and outwardly fromsaid intermediate level.

15. A handle free dispensing cap as set forth in Claim 11 in which saidcover is mounted for movement also around a second axis at the end ofthe portion at the rear of said intermediate axis and the cover betweensaid axes can be flexed.

16. A handle free dispensing cap as set forth in Claim 15 in which theupper end of said side wall has a top wall provided with an elongatedrecess extending from the pouring spout substantially across the topwall and the cover fits in said recess.

1 7. A handle free dispensing cap as set forth in Claim 16 in which saidcover has pivot pins extending outwardly at said intermediate axis intoslots in said top wall and means providing for transverse motion of atleast one of said axes toward the other when the cover between them isflexed.

18. A handle free dispensing cap as set forth in Claim 17 in which saidtransverse motion means comprises elongated slots for the pivot pins atsaid intermediate axis and said cover has pivot pins extending outwardlyat said rear axis into close fitting slots in said top wall.

19. A handle free dispensing cap as set forth in Claim 16 in which saidtransverse motion means comprises close fitting slots for the pivot pinsat said intermediate axis and said cover has an integral downwardlyextending lug at the rear end fitted into the recess in said top wall.

20. A handle free two piece dispensing cap adapted for use on acontainer having a neck of circular cross section comprising:

(A) a one piece molded plastic body adapted to be removably affixed to aneck of such container comprising a side wall of grasping length having:

(I) a lower cylindrical portion large enough in cross section to fitover the neck of such container with at most an annular air space ofshort radial length between said wall and neck,

(2) an upper portion including:

(a) a pouring spout diverging upwardly and outwardly from a lower pointto an upper end, and

(b) an upward extension of said lower cylindrical wall portionconnecting with the pouring spout and terminating in a plane above theupper end of said pouring spout; and

(3) means adapted to make fluid tight engagement of said lowercylindrical portion with said neck comprising a wall extending inwardlyfrom the upper part of said lower cylindrical portion and a wallextending downwardly from said in wardly extending wall forming a groovewith said side wall to receive and removably hold the end of said neck;

(B) a one piece molded plastic cover pivotally mounted at anintermediate position on said cap behind said pouring spout, said coverhaving a front pouring spout closing portion and a rear portiondepressible into the space within said side wall to lift said spoutclosing portion, and said cover having a generally flat upper surfacelying, in closed position, in said plane; and

(C) means biasing said cover to closed position against the upper end ofsaid pouring spout.

21. A handle free two piece dispensing cap as set forth in Claim 20 inwhich said upper portion includes an integral closure wall having acover receiving recess extending rearwardly from said pouring spout andthe pivotal mounting of the cover to said closure wall includes hingepins and slots.

22. A handle free two piece dispensing cap as set forth in Claim 21 inwhich said cover is also pivotally mounted to said closure wall at theend opposite said spout closing portion and the rear portion of thecover between said intermediate and rear pivotal mountings can beflexed.

23. A handle free dispensing cap adapted for use on a container having aneck comprising:

(a) a side wall of grasping length having upper and lower ends and apouring spout in the upper portion,

(1) said side wall, except for the pouring spout, having the same crosssectional shape as, but larger than, the neck of such container overwhich it is adapted to fit with at most a relatively small air spacebetween them,

(2) said pouring spout diverging upwardly and outwardly from its lowerend to its upper end,

(3) the upper end of said side wall terminating in a first plane and theupper end of said pouring spout terminating in a seam plane parallel tobut lower than said first plane by a predetermined distance,

(b) means integral with said side wall extending inwardly atapproximately the level of the lower end of said pouring spout and thendownwardly for making fluid tight engagement with said such neck,

(c) a cover comprising a front spout closing portion, a rear pOrtion anda pivotal connection with the upper end of said side wall,

(I) at least the major portion of the upper and lower surfaces of saidcover being plane and, in closed position, having its upper planesurface in the said first plane and its lower plane surface in saidsecond plane and closing said pouring spout,

(2) the axis of said pivotal connection being behind the spout at anintermediate position of the cover that permits the rear portion of thecover to be depressed within said side wall to lift the front portion toopen the pouring spout, and

(d means to bias the cover resiliently to closed position.

24. A handle free two piece dispensing cap as set forth in Claim 23 inwhich the upper end of said side wall includes an integral closure wallhaving a cover receiving recess extending rearwardly from said pouringspout and the pivotal connection of the cover to said closure wallincludes hinge pins and slots.

25. A handle free two piece dispensing cap as set forth in Claim 23 inwhich said cover is also pivotally mounted to said closure wall at theend opposite said spout closing portion and the rear portion of thecover between said intermediate and rear pivotal mountings can beflexed.

References Cited The following references, cited by the Examiner, are ofrecord in the patented file of this patent or the original patent.

STANLEY H. TOLLBERG, Primary Examiner N. L. STACK, JR., AssistantExaminer

